Why is this Kumbh held at Nashik and at Trimbakeshwar?
At Prayag, Haridwar and Ujjain all the akhadas bathe at one place. Here they do not. The Vaishnav akhadas bathe at Ramkund in Nashik, and the Shaiva and Udasin akhadas bathe at Kushavarta in Trimbakeshwar, a short drive away. This page is that arrangement — the two towns, the two kunds, who goes where, and how it came to be.
Table of contents
There are four Kumbhs, and three of them are held at one place each. At Prayag it is the सङ्गम sangam, the place where the rivers meet, at Haridwar it is the bank of the Ganga, at Ujjain it is the bank of the Kshipra, and at each of them every akhada bathes at the same spot. An अखाड़ा akhada is an order of sadhus with its own head, its own rule, its own property and its own place in the bathing order at a Kumbh. The Kumbh on the Godavari is the one that is different. It is held in two towns, Nashik and Trimbakeshwar, and the akhadas are divided between them. The Vaishnav akhadas bathe at Ramkund in Nashik. The Shaiva akhadas and the Udasin akhadas bathe at Kushavarta in Trimbakeshwar.
Section I
The two towns
Nashik is the city, on the Godavari where the river turns south through the old part of town at Panchavati. Ramkund is there, the pool on the bend of the river, and Ramkund has the whole of it. A कुण्ड kund is a tank or pool with stone sides and steps, fed by the river or a spring.
Trimbakeshwar is the small town upstream, a short drive to the west, at the foot of Brahmagiri. It has the Trimbakeshwar temple, which is one of the twelve jyotirlings. A लिङ्ग ling is the form Shiva is worshipped in, an upright stone in the shrine. A ज्योतिर्लिङ्ग jyotirling is a ling of light, one of the twelve lings of Shiva that are counted above all the others. The Godavari rises on Brahmagiri, the hill above Trimbakeshwar. People say she disappears into the hill and comes out again at Kushavarta, and the source of the Godavari tells the whole of that story. Kushavarta is the kund in the middle of the town. The Godavari at Nashik is the river both towns are on.
Section II
Who bathes where
The word akhada originally meant a wrestling ground. The akhadas that come to this Kumbh are of three kinds, and the split between the two towns runs along that line.
The Vaishnav akhadas, whose sadhus are devotees of Vishnu, bathe at Ramkund in Nashik. The Shaiva akhadas, whose sadhus are devotees of Shiva, bathe at Kushavarta in Trimbakeshwar, and so do the Udasin akhadas. A संन्यासी sannyasi is a sadhu who has given up the world, and the Shaiva akhadas are orders of sannyasis. Three akhadas bathe at Ramkund and ten at Kushavarta, and the akhadas has all thirteen by name and says what each of the three families is.
The naga sadhus, the ash-covered sadhus who go without clothes, belong to the Shaiva akhadas, so they are at Trimbakeshwar. The naga sadhus says who they are. A visitor who wants to see them goes to Kushavarta, not to Ramkund.
Section III
How the bathing days fall at the two towns
The main bathing days are the days the akhadas go to the river in procession and bathe before everyone else, and the shahi snan has those days in full. There are three of them. The first two fall on the same day in both towns, so on those mornings the Vaishnav akhadas are going into Ramkund at Nashik while the Shaiva and Udasin akhadas are going into Kushavarta at Trimbakeshwar. The third bath falls on different days at the two towns.
The Kumbh period itself opens the same way in both towns, with the flag hoisting at Ramkund and at Kushavarta, and the flag hoisting has that. The whole thing comes round when Jupiter enters Leo, and why it is called Simhastha has that.
The dates for this Kumbh, with what the authority has said about them, are on the main Kumbh page.
Section IV
Where the akhadas stay
Section V
Where the arrangement came from
The Peshwas made it. The Peshwas were the ministers who ruled the Maratha state from Pune in the seventeen hundreds. In their time there were clashes between the sadhus of the two sects, the Vaishnav and the Shaiva, and the Peshwas settled it by giving each side its own place to bathe. The Vaishnav akhadas were given Nashik and Ramkund, and the Shaiva and the Udasin akhadas were given Trimbakeshwar and Kushavarta.
The year is not recorded.
Section VI
Going to the two kunds in a Simhastha year
If you go to Nashik you go down to Ramkund, on the bend of the river at Panchavati, with the Ganga Godavari temple beside it and the ghats running along the bank on both sides. A घाट ghat is the flight of stone steps leading down into a river, and the bank they stand on. On a bathing day this is where the Vaishnav akhadas come down to the water, and the temples of Nashik has what is around the kund.
If you go to Trimbakeshwar you go to the middle of the town, and Kushavarta is there, a square kund with steps on all four sides and a wall around it, with the lanes of the town running off it and the temple a little way beyond. On a bathing day this is where the Shaiva and the Udasin akhadas come down to the water, and the nagas among them. The two towns are a short drive apart.
Section VII
Explore more guides
The shahi snan
The akhadas' bath on the main bathing days — who goes into the water first, the three baths, and what the authority calls it for this Kumbh.
Why it is called Simhastha
The name, the planet behind it, and what the Gautami Mahatmya says about bathing in the Godavari in that year.
The naga sadhus
Who the ash-covered sadhus are, which orders they belong to, and where they bathe at this Kumbh.
The Godavari at Nashik
The river both towns are on — where it starts above Trimbakeshwar, and the turn it makes through Nashik.
The akhadas
What an akhada is, the three families, all thirteen by name, where they camp and what is built for them.
Sadhugram
The town of tents the authority lays out for the sadhus at Tapovan and at Trimbakeshwar, what it has, and who is given a plot.
Section VIII